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[Albion] Deluded Leeds (an EFL club) fans



BN41Albion

Well-known member
Oct 1, 2017
6,827
That is a very good question, and a difficult one. Which I will attempt to answer, although you may not agree with me.

The first thing I would say is that it has nothing to do with trophies won. Most of the teams in the lower divisions have won nothing at all, but that doesn't mean they aren't "proper" clubs. I would argue that a proper club is rooted in its local community, and reflects the character of the town or city in which it is located. I would say that a proper club has soul. It has a support handed down from father to son (or daughter). And since football is a working class sport, proper clubs have a significant working class support base.

I never said that Brighton wasn't a proper club (interesting that you assumed I meant that) and I would consider you to very much to be one. You may not be a working class town, but I have been to your matches and you certainly have many working class supporters. You are rooted in your local community, I imagine support is handed down the generations, but above all you haven't lost your soul.

Perhaps it is a little easier to describe what is a proper club by pointing out clubs that aren't. Manchester United isn't a proper club. Manchester City used to be, but is one no longer. Arsenal isn't one, and neither is Chelsea. Liverpool isn't, but Everton are. Spurs are on the cusp.

It is a very hard thing to define, and I don't know if I have succeeded. And of course you may disagree with everything I have said. But it is the best I can come up with.

OK fair enough, I agree with much of your post there (although I'm not sure about what you say about Man United etc, they still obviously have thousands of local, passionate fans). I'm not sure how many of your fans agree with that in terms of seeing us as a proper club judging by social media, but I recognise it only represents a small section of fans.

Re not a working class town, perhaps overall, but there are plenty of very 'working class' areas in Brighton and Hove!
 




Curious Orange

Punxsatawney Phil
Jul 5, 2003
10,226
On NSC for over two decades...
You may not be a working class town, but I have been to your matches and you certainly have many working class supporters.

I wouldn't like to comment on the Brighton of today, but certainly historically it was very much working class as it was a centre for the railways - Brighton Works, Lancing Carriage Works, and the Pullman Carriage Works all being based in the vicinity... and of course people forget that all those farms on the surrounding Downs are very much a working class industry.
 




Simster

"the man's an arse"
Jul 7, 2003
54,952
Surrey
every club is a proper club with character and identity

Any club that isn't "gritty and working class" isn't a proper football club to these gimps.

Where "gritty and working class" is defined as: has a past chock full of hooliganism including fan deaths (Birmingham, Istanbul etc), rioting (Paris), shamefully setting alight a chip van at a club that was reeling from the death of dozens of people in a fire just a few months beforehand and behaving like total twunts in sleepy seaside places like Bournemouth.

The more I think about them, the more I hope they get relegated, and tbh I think they will. I hope they take Villa with them.
 






el punal

Well-known member
Aug 29, 2012
12,545
The dull part of the south coast
one of the most cringe worthy things that I hear from Leeds fans is about how they hate Man U and how Manu U hate them.

I always just say "the same Man U that haven't battered an eye lid at leeds for the last 20 years as they've been too busy winning champions leagues and PL titles".

They see themselves in the same sphere as big big clubs and they just aren't, they haven't moved on in 20 years. Problem is the rest of the footballing world has, both on and off the field.

A couple of years ago I went to watch the Albion up at Newcastle. In one of the pubs I got chatting to some Geordie fans on which clubs/fans they disliked. Needless to say Sunderland was top of the list, Liverpool and Man Utd were mentioned, the Smoggies (Boro to you!) and as an afterthought Leeds.
 










SimpKingpin

See the match?
Aug 8, 2020
941
Worthing -> NYC

I mean it just needs a response with this link:

https://www.sportbible.com/football...reveals-why-he-quit-as-lazio-manager-20160710

I should probably start a new twitter account for this type of shit.
I can't be bothered with the backlash on my main account.

In all seriousness this article explains a lot about the desperate nature and seemingly deliberate co-ordination of last weekend's media and social media onsalught.
Their training starts Monday and they haven't signed anyone new. In fact it looks like they've lost the lad who helped them win promotion. So they are currently in a worse spot.

If Bielsa feels that he has been misled by the board who knows what can happen.
 






Megazone

On his last warning
Jan 28, 2015
8,679
Northern Hemisphere.
I mean it just needs a response with this link:

https://www.sportbible.com/football...reveals-why-he-quit-as-lazio-manager-20160710

I should probably start a new twitter account for this type of shit.
I can't be bothered with the backlash on my main account.

In all seriousness this article explains a lot about the desperate nature and seemingly deliberate co-ordination of last weekend's media and social media onsalught.
Their training starts Monday and they haven't signed anyone new. In fact it looks like they've lost the lad who helped them win promotion. So they are currently in a worse spot.

If Bielsa feels that he has been misled by the board who knows what can happen.

He'll probably turn them into frogs.
 


Thunder Bolt

Silly old bat
I mean it just needs a response with this link:

https://www.sportbible.com/football...reveals-why-he-quit-as-lazio-manager-20160710

I should probably start a new twitter account for this type of shit.
I can't be bothered with the backlash on my main account.

In all seriousness this article explains a lot about the desperate nature and seemingly deliberate co-ordination of last weekend's media and social media onsalught.
Their training starts Monday and they haven't signed anyone new. In fact it looks like they've lost the lad who helped them win promotion. So they are currently in a worse spot.

If Bielsa feels that he has been misled by the board who knows what can happen.

They need an assistant manager, three coaching staff and Bielsa to sign.
 


hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
62,759
Chandlers Ford
Nor felt the need to comment when the Aussies retained the Ashes. Whoever heard of an Aussie keeping quiet about cricket?

Nor commented on the long thread about the bush fires

Nor commented on the Aussie general election thread

Nor commented on the threads on the Australian league

But when it's a thread about Leeds ....

In fairness to our newest member, he actually IS in Australia (or at least his sign-up e-mail address, is Australian). It was more his specific interests than his location that I was gently raising.
 




Thunder Bolt

Silly old bat
Any club that isn't "gritty and working class" isn't a proper football club to these gimps.

Where "gritty and working class" is defined as: has a past chock full of hooliganism including fan deaths (Birmingham, Istanbul etc), rioting (Paris), shamefully setting alight a chip van at a club that was reeling from the death of dozens of people in a fire just a few months beforehand and behaving like total twunts in sleepy seaside places like Bournemouth.

The more I think about them, the more I hope they get relegated, and tbh I think they will. I hope they take Villa with them.

One of my colleagues played 5 a side with Christopher Loftus. Yes, there had been trouble earlier but those two fans were ambushed.
 


Peter Grummit

Well-known member
Oct 13, 2004
6,772
Lewes
What absolute biscuits you talk. Of course Brighton's fanbase is diverse, but your more successful neighbours in blue and white stripes can testify from their play off visit to us that fans from all classes can come together to create an intimidating atmosphere when something matters to them. Our strength has been our diversity. When our club was on the brink, we had geezers who would invade the pitch and break the crossbars to get national attention, we also had middle aged women. members of the Lib Dems who were willing to picket their own party's conference. We also had accountants with the expertise to trawl through the club's articles and raise the owner's dodgy dealings with the FA. We had punk poets who would take protests hundreds of miles away to the owner's home. We had transport experts with the expertise needed to support the club's planning applications. We had thousands of people from all walks of life that came together to do whatever they could for the club.

But, here's the thing: You Do Too! Leeds is a modern vibrant city with all kinds of people living in it. Your support is not made up from only the ex miners and cotton factory workers. Your support is just as diverse as ours. It's just that we see it as something to be celebrated and, for some reason, you seem to like to pretend that it's not the case.

You're not a gritty working class club, you're a multi million pound business owned by a global investment company. You have some gritty working class supporters, but then so does every club in the country. Growing up myself, I was so gritty and working class that my comprehensive school didn't even teach Latin! Imagine the deprivation.

Leeds is the 3rd largest city in the UK. It is by far the largest with only one League team. At around 820,000 it's population is almost 3 times that of Brighton and Hove (290,000). Both teams also have a significant hinterland: Brighton's is more rural and dispersed, Leeds closer by and more urban but with other League teams closer by.

From 2011/12 to date:
Leeds average home gate 26,323
Brighton average home gate 26,219

It can be argued that Brighton's inclusive identity has led to a much higher attendance per head of city population, accepting that many come from further afield to support each club.
 




Megazone

On his last warning
Jan 28, 2015
8,679
Northern Hemisphere.
Leeds is the 3rd largest city in the UK. It is by far the largest with only one League team. At around 820,000 it's population is almost 3 times that of Brighton and Hove (290,000). Both teams also have a significant hinterland: Brighton's is more rural and dispersed, Leeds closer by and more urban but with other League teams closer by.

From 2011/12 to date:
Leeds average home gate 26,323
Brighton average home gate 26,219

It can be argued that Brighton's inclusive identity has led to a much higher attendance per head of city population, accepting that many come from further afield to support each club.

Leeds is a Rugby league city. The kids are all playing it in the parks there. They get crowds of 15,000 for the Leeds Rhino matches who are a much more successful club than Leeds United wth their half empty Elland Rd.
Brighton is a football city. Much easier for us to attract younger generations and we don't have any other club representing the city with far more trophies and a much more packed out stadium.
 




Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
25,909
Leeds is the 3rd largest city in the UK. It is by far the largest with only one League team. At around 820,000 it's population is almost 3 times that of Brighton and Hove (290,000). Both teams also have a significant hinterland: Brighton's is more rural and dispersed, Leeds closer by and more urban but with other League teams closer by.

From 2011/12 to date:
Leeds average home gate 26,323
Brighton average home gate 26,219

It can be argued that Brighton's inclusive identity has led to a much higher attendance per head of city population, accepting that many come from further afield to support each club.

Didn't sound right. Comes out 8th:

https://www.thegeographist.com/uk-cities-population-1000/

Although this depends on the defining urban measurement.

South/West Yorkshire seems to be one large urban sprawl.
 




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